The abbey was originally founded by the Empress
Matilda, daughter of King Henry I (1100-1135), and her chamberlain,
Drogo. In
1151 they gave to the monks of Quarr some land at Loxwell, in the
hills of Pewsham in Wiltshire, for the foundation of a new abbey.(1) In
its early days the abbey was called St. Mary of Downfront,
or just Downfront, a name derived from Drogos
fount or spring that was included in the initial endowment. Between
1151 and 1154, the Empresss son, Henry Duke of Normandy,
added some gifts to his mothers endowment and when he became
king of England in 1154 he gave the monks some important estates.(2) After
only three years at Loxwell the community moved a mile and a half
to Stanley, situated on the south bank of the River Marden, just
within Pewsham forest. This site offered the monks greater scope
for the laying out of a monastic precinct on a large scale.(3) Despite
this early move, the abbey was known as Downfront for many years
and the sheriffs knew the brethren for at least fifty years as the
monks of Chippenham in Locheswella. Things were further
complicated by the fact that Stanley Abbey was constantly confused
with the
abbey of Stoneleigh, in Warwickshire.(4) The
move to Stanley brought more practical problems. It was difficult
to obtain a supply
of
fresh drinking water at the new site and it was not until 1214,
when Abbot Thomas Calstone completed an aqueduct running down
to
Stanley from the old source at Loxwell, that the problem was finally
resolved.(5)

Throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
the abbey grew in wealth and status and the buildings erected
at
this time appear to have been for twenty-four monks and forty lay-brothers.(6) By
the early fourteenth century the abbey held land in many parts
of Wiltshire, Somerset, Berkshire and Gloucestershire and had established
a daughter-house at Graiguenamanagh in
Ireland.(7) The
monks of Stanley
Abbey not only acquired wealth, but attained some social
and political prominence. In October 1200 Abbot Nicholas entertained
King John and in 1280 King Edward I gave stone to the abbey for
a chamber to be built for his own use. According to the abbey
chronicle
he made use of his chamber in the spring of 1282. Princess Mary,
the bishop of Salisbury and Edward II were all reported to have
stayed at the abbey during the first years of the fourteenth century.
During the Interdict (1208-1214) the abbot, Thomas of Calstone,
attended the meeting of King John and the Cistercian abbots at
York in 1210. Stanley was chosen to store some of the kings
jewels, which were given back to the king in July 1215. Until
the end of
the thirteenth century the abbot of Stanley was more or less a
regular attendant at the Cistercian General
Chapter. The abbot
was also
summoned to the early English parliaments; in 1311-17 he was called
five times to Westminster, York or Lincoln and in 1322 he was
summoned
to the provincial council in Lincoln.(8)

The abbey suffered some serious economic set
backs during the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
In 1212 a fire destroyed the twelfth-century church, and may have
engulfed large parts of the cloister buildings. It was not until
1266 that repairs were completed.(9) After
the fall of the Despensers the abbey was raided by the earl of
Hereford and the Mortimers,
who took with them £1000 in money and the equivalent in goods.
From 1317 until the mid fifteenth century the abbey was
afflicted by poverty: its estates were diminishing in value;
wool which it
exported was rated comparatively low in quality; and evidence suggests
that the abbey was mainly engaged in mixed farming for small
profits.(10) Stanley
also had the added burden of providing for the maintenance of
retired royal servants, who were sent to the abbey in an almost
unbroken succession.(11) At the
time of the Dissolution the abbey had a net annual income of little
more than £177 and a community
of nine monks and a novice.(12) The
abbey was dissolved with the smaller
monasteries in 1536 and the site was bought by Sir Edward Baynton.
Sir Edward destroyed much of the abbey to provide materials
for
the construction of his manor at Bromham. Eventually all the monastic
buildings were destroyed and the foundations extensively robbed
out, leaving nothing to be seen above ground. The site is still
of particular interest because of the remaining earthworks which
extend over an area of at least twenty-eight acres and denote the
entire monastic precinct. The site is on private property although
access may be obtained from its owners at Old Abbey Farm.